Collective quantum phase slips in multiple nanowire junctions

Abstract

Realization of robust coherent quantum phase slips represents a significant experimental challenge. Here we propose a design consisting of multiple nanowire junctions to realize a phase-slip flux qubit. It admits good tunability provided by gate voltages applied on superconducting islands separating nanowire junctions. In addition, the gates and junctions can be identical to or distinct from each other, leading to symmetric and asymmetric setups. We find that the asymmetry can improve the performance of the proposed device compared with the symmetric case. In particular, it can enhance the effective rate of collective quantum phase slips. Furthermore, we demonstrate how to couple two such devices via a mutual inductance. This is potentially useful for quantum gate operations. Our investigation on how symmetry in multiple nanowire junctions affects the device performance should be useful for the application of phase-slip flux qubits in quantum information processing and quantum metrology.